Industry in transition
Study: 140,000 auto jobs could be lost by 2035
Around one in five jobs in the automotive industry are at risk in the coming years. However, VDA boss Müller does not see the problem in the change towards electromobility.
According to a study, 140,000 jobs could be lost in the German automotive industry by the middle of the next decade if development remains the same. According to the survey by the Prognos Institute on behalf of the Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), a total of 46,000 jobs will have been lost between 2019 and 2023. At the same time, the authors point out that there is a high degree of uncertainty regarding the actual extent. It is clear that individual professions will become more relevant and others will become less important. In total, almost 911,000 people worked in the industry in 2023.
“The change towards electromobility will lead to job losses,” said VDA President Hildegard Müller. However, this is not primarily an expression of a crisis, but rather part of the transformation that is being driven significantly by the electrification of drives.
Electric drive is less complex than a combustion engine
“The political framework conditions decide whether the future investments take place in Germany, whether the new things that are coming up will be created in this country with new jobs or somewhere else. The framework conditions can therefore strengthen or dampen the employment effects.” Specifically, Müller called for competitive energy prices, less bureaucracy, quick planning and approval procedures and more free trade agreements.
It is clear that around a third fewer employees are needed because the electrified drive is less complex than the combustion engine, said VDA chief economist Manuel Kallweit. According to the study, there have been particularly many job losses since 2019 in areas where many people are employed. Occupations in mechanical engineering and industrial technology as well as metalworking in particular have lost relevance. On the other hand, there were increases in occupations in automotive technology as well as in technical research and development, in computer science, electrical engineering and software development.
dpa
Source: Stern
